Have A Gap Underneath The Garage Door? Follow These Tips

Have you noticed that there is a gap underneath your garage door when it is closed, and not sure what you can do about it? These tips will help get your garage door settled in the right position again.

Check The Seal

The first thing that you should do is check the seal at the bottom of the garage door. It is possible that the seal is dry, damaged, or even completely missing. Thankfully, replacing the seal may close that gap just enough to stop the air from coming in and be a simple solution to this problem.

Adjust The Travel Distance Knob

The garage door opener should have an adjustment knob inside the garage door opener that controls how far down the garage door travels when opening and closing the garage door. It works by essentially cutting the power to the garage door during the closing process so that it stops at the right position. You will need to locate this knob first, which is usually under an access panel and requires using a screwdriver to reach in and twist the knob. 

Start by giving the know a small adjustment, then opening and closing the garage door to see how much lower it is going. A good trick to tell if it is going down far enough is to put a towel on the floor when you close the garage door, and see what kind of resistance the garage door has in its new position. The garage door is not going to make it impossible to pull the towel from under the door when it's in the right position, but you will feel some resistance when you have it set right. 

Adjust The Force Knob

If the garage door is touching the ground and then automatically opening back up, then the problem could require making adjustments to the force knob. This is a safety mechanism that has been required in garage doors for many years and is supposed to prevent the door from closing on a car, child, pet, or some other object. This knob will help tell the garage door how much resistance must be met for the garage door to back up due to hitting an object. Unfortunately, the sensitivity can cause it to misfire and cause the door to not form a good seal with the ground. Once again, make small adjustments to the force know until the door forms a good seal.

Can't seem to get that gap to close no matter what you do? Then you may need the help of a garage door repair specialist to make further adjustments to the door that are preventing it from closing completely. 

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